“YES! To The Dress” and Celebration Cocktails

I don’t know if you remember my post from wayyyy back when, on May 23rd, Ryan and I got engaged! We knew right away that we wanted to wait and have our wedding in 2013, but I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to wait to start planning. Girls wait their whole lives for this day, and then I had to wait 6 months to even begin planning. My obsessive compulsive, list-making self was not prepared to wait like this. My mom and I had lots of long distance phone calls, but there was one thing that had to wait until all the Neistat ladies were together and in the same state. WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING! We decided to go to all of the stores in one blow and make a day out of it. My sister, mom, grandmother, my mom’s best friend, and my sister’s best friend all came with for the craziness. I wanted to surprise our group with a little keepsake for coming on the shopping trip with me. The DIY champagne flutes were a great way to tell everyone’s drinks apart (which is great for any party) and left everyone with a practical take home present to use in the future. I bought giant charms with each of the letters of everyone’s first names and tied it on with ivory ribbon. A totally easy DIY for someone who isn’t particularly great with crafts. I thought I was so sneaky preparing the glasses in the basement before we left. Little did I know that I was the one out of the loop on surprises for the day.

Leave it to my amazing sister to plan a spectacular shopping experience, which started with a surprise limousine to escort our group to all of the dress shops. It was the first time everyone had been together to celebrate our engagement, which naturally included quite a bit of champagne for our early morning.  I’d have to say the champagne was essential. If you think swimsuit shopping is stressful, imagine trying the find the perfect dress for the most photographed day of your life. So champagne took the edge off and turned the whole thing into a laughing, great day. We went shopping in The Highlands, the up and coming section of downtown Denver. We found the dress at a gorgeous shop called Anna-Be Bridal over Thanksgiving but I knew I wanted to wait to share this post until New Year’s Eve.

It doesn’t matter what event you are celebrating, champagne cocktails imply that it’s special. This Raspberry Bellini is exactly the cocktail for that special occasion, whether it’s engagements or New Year’s Eve, birthdays or graduations. It’s a total girls’ cocktail- sweet and sparkly and looks like candy in a fancy champagne flute. There are just a few ingredients so there is little preparation involved, and your guests can make and refill their glasses at their leisure. If you can’t find raspberries inexpensively buy a bag of frozen berries. It helps keep the drinks cold and no one will ever know the difference. Give it a try for your midnight toast next week!

Raspberry Bellinis
Makes: 12 servings

1 bottle of champagne
6 oz framboise liqueur
1 pint raspberry sorbet
1 pint raspberries (fresh or frozen)

• Put a small scoop of sorbet, about the size of 1 tablespoon, in the bottom of each champagne glass. 
• Add the same amount of framboise on top of the sorbet.
• Fill the rest of the glass with champagne and top with a few raspberries for garnish.